Lord of Minecraft on GamesIndustry.biz (registration required) is a quick conversation with Markus "Notch" Persson about Minecraft, his successful sandbox game. One answer they highlight separately is his explanation of why he's been so public about the boatloads of money the game has been earning, reportedly as much as $350,000 a day. "Personally I like sharing that information, because I'm generally an open guy," Persson told them. "But it feels a bit sometimes like it's a bragging page." And while he is willing to consider selling DLC for the game, he rejects the idea of courting investors: "I'd rather have [the games] just be self-funded, because we can run the company we want. If we fail with a game it's because we failed it, not because we had to rush it to meet a deadline."

Nor is it sold as a complete game, that's a falsehood, there are disclaimers all over the place before you buy that it's an alpha and it will have bugs.

You've got complete and unfinished mixed up. It's not sold as a finished game, but it is sold complete in that it's the only payment you need to make for it.

I wouldn't say the website's full of disclaimers either. The front page mentions potential instability at times, and the purchase graphic says you get 50% off during alpha. That's pretty much it. If there's a line somewhere about how he reserves the right to release updates without trying them out first because that's what the paying public is for, by all means, point me to it.

The first thing on the page (upper left) is a graphic that says

50% off during alpha. Pre-purchase now.

Under the main content logo is the text:

Minecraft Alpha [The latest!]: In browser | Download

After the what is minecraft graphic, in news it says

Minecraft is still in alpha, but is rapidly nearing beta. I've only got one more feature to add; multiplayer support.I'm renaming the old version of the game "Minecraft Classic", and will be slowly phasing it out. I won't remove it, though. Just hide it.

The next paragraph after that says:

The main branch of the game is currently called "Minecraft Alpha", and is under heavy development. It can be a bit unstable at times, so don't get too attached to your save files yet.You can read more on the development blog, or here.

Under purchase now, it says:

When Minecraft is finished, it will sell for €20.00.If you pre-purchase now during alpha, you pay just €9.95!The price will go up at beta.

Please note that when you buy the game, you're paying for the game as it is right now!You will receive any and all future updates for free as a bonus. Read the copyright information for more information.

The website IS full of disclaimers about the status of the game. I think the only way he can say "alpha" more is to actually have "alpha" before AND after the word minecraft - alpha minecraft alpha is in alpha.

His blog is also up to date on game status, the changes he's made on every release, and the changes he's planning. I'm not saying he's been the most agile developer (a little development joke there), but I don't think he's misrepresented the game.

For those who don't get the game - I tell my friends that it's like being able to go back to your childhood to play with Lego's and Lincoln logs. You build amazing creations and then blow them up (without the mess).